NASCAR history fans know that 1971 was Richard Petty's so-called million-dollar year. On August 1, 1971, The King became the first NASCAR driver to win more than one million dollars in his career, the prize money for his victory at the Dixie 500 finally pushing him over the top. It was Richard Petty's 551st start since he put down the shop broom and took the wheel of father Lee's hand-me-down '57 Olds convertible back in 1958 at age 21.

Pat McKinney may also have a million-dollar year. You see, he owns the Petty Blue '71 Road Runner feature car-one of at least three Petty Plymouths known to have been campaigned by the NASCAR star in 1971-and makes no bones about the fact that it is for sale. Before you go assuming that Pat, who co-owns the car with his brother Mike, is only in it for the money, know that the two restored the car from a complete basket case over the course of five grueling years. Pat had to sell some prized possessions to complete the job. He even sold his car trailer and had to hire a truck to deliver the Road Runner to HOT ROD's photo studio for pictures.

Though Petty would go on to collect millions more in prize money and earn numerous Winston Cup Championships before retiring in 1993, much of it was earned at the wheel of GM products, not the Petty Blue Plymouths of his Hemi years. In fact, the '71 season marked a significant turning point in Richard's seemingly effortless domination of the competition at the wheel of Chrysler products. As the '70s unfolded, NASCAR rule makers sought to level the playing field and Chrysler racers endured a barrage of new challenges that made it increasingly difficult to remain competitive.

Among the handicaps introduced for the '71 season was the neutering of aerodynamic streamliners like the '69 Daytona and '70 SuperBird to a maximum of 5 liters (305 ci). Perhaps rightfully so, NASCAR honcho Bill France didn't want his race tracks transformed into extensions of Detroit proving grounds as the Chrysler and Ford factory race teams sought to out-aero each other with increasingly bizarre-and legendary-contraptions. France flicked the light switch and Petty and other Chrysler teams abandoned their bullets and returned to racing bricks on the superspeedways.

The pivotal '71 onslaught continued as big-block engines over 6 liters (366 ci) were required to breathe through restrictor plates and sleeved carburetors or get by on reduced displacement. The writing was on the wall: NASCAR sought to end the Chrysler Hemi and Ford Boss 429 domination of the sport so General Motors could return to the fray. Furthermore, France clearly wanted to encourage small-block engine development and participation.

It worked. By 1973, teams running 430ci big-blocks had to run miniscule 390-cfm carburetors; by 1975, no engine larger than 358 cubes was allowed, making Hemis, big-blocks, and Bosses things of the past. The times were also changing as a national recession and OPEC-instigated fuel shortages pulled a one-two sucker punch on racing. A sign of the times was the ruling in 1973 that made engine-displacement markings on the hood optional instead of mandatory, a tacit acknowledgement that the sport was focusing less on the machinery and more on the hero status of its drivers. Another little-remembered ghost of those dark days: In 1974, the Daytona 500 was intentionally shortened to 450 miles in deference to the national energy crisis.

Regardless of these hassles, Petty soldiered on with Plymouth, then (after 1971) Dodge-skinned race cars and did well before finally succumbing to the struggle in 1978 when he announced a switch to Chevrolet. The new '78 Dodge Magnum looked sleek, but on the track it was a dud. In the October '78 issue of Stock Car Racing, Petty stated, "The Magnum is too wide. It pushes so much air that it affects everything about the car, especially handling, gas mileage, and tire wear . . . It just wasn't possible to get the Magnum consistently competitive. The switch to Chevrolet was the only feasible change to make under current NASCAR rules . . . We finally had to face the facts."

Of Petty's landmark shift away from Dodge, Bill France opined in the same story, "We are disappointed that Richard has decided to make a change in automobiles after such a long and successful association with Chrysler. Ideally, it is better to have competitive cars from all makes. However, if Richard feels he will be more competitive in another car, then we certainly feel he should change. Should this change result in Richard being more competitive, then we know his many fans will be happy." France's next comment is most telling: "I don't think the absence of the Dodge teams will hurt racing. I believe the predominant fans pull for that red and blue No. 43 because of Richard, not because of the brand of car."

Many enthusiasts took the statement as a sign NASCAR was headed in the personality-driven direction of other televised sports that were more about the athletes than the game. Cale Yarborough, the most successful GM pilot at the time of Petty's shift, added, "I don't think the absence of the Dodge teams will have any effect whatsoever on fans and attendance. Racing fans want good competition and they have it. They'll have more with Petty in a Chevrolet."

All this serves as a backdrop to our feature car, which owner McKinney tells us remained in the Petty stables until 1978 or 1979. That's right. This car, or at least its skeleton, served Petty from the glory days of factory backing to the bitter end of Chrysler's downward slide in the '70s. Its original Road Runner skin and Hemi powerplant were replaced with Charger sheetmetal and a succession of Wedge-head big blocks. As the rules morphed, so did the car. By 1978, the once-proud NASCAR stocker had been re-skinned no fewer than five times, sported a Mopar small-block, and was cloaked in the notorious Dodge Magnum skin that forced Petty's exile to a Chevy Monte Carlo.

After the switch, Petty sold the car to RJ Reynolds, who lettered it with Winston markings and a red and white paint job and displayed it at car shows for a few years. From there it ended up in the hands of a private individual who likely planned on returning it to the race track as a Saturday night bomber, but thankfully he never did it.

That's how Pat found it. As the photos demonstrate, he saved the rusted hulk and gave it the proper respect due to one of Richard Petty's most successful race cars. What's next for McKinney? If the famous No. 43 Plymouth finds a new home, he's got a hankering to build a cloned Rockford Files Firebird Esprit. No kidding. Pat's a big fan of James Garner and the '70s private detective TV program. Something tells us he could build a fleet of Rockford Firebirds for what it cost to do this one Plymouth.

Which One Is It?We'd like nothing better than to brag that this is the very same Road Runner that took Richard to victory at the '71 Daytona 500 and appeared at the White House with President Richard Nixon. But the fact is, there are at least three '71 Petty Road Runners known to have been built. They include our feature car, another beautiful restoration in Oregon, and one that hasn't resurfaced yet and is likely gone for good.

Further confounding the identification process is the way sponsor decals, lettering, and numeric markings changed literally from race to race as contracts changed or accident damage was patched up. What's needed are x-ray glasses to see the inner details of the frame and rollcage as these cars appear in vintage racing action photography. Until someone devises such an instrument, all we can say is Pat's example is definitely one of the fleet, but we can't nail down exactly which '71 races it competed in.

Transmission: The Chrysler 18-spline four-speed mates to a Centerforce Dual Friction clutch and flywheel assembly. A stock aluminum clutch housing connects it all to the block.

Rearend: The original Petty driveshaft is still in the car and feeds a full-floating Petty Enterprises Chrysler 831/44 rearend with 3.91:1 "Riverside" road-race gears, a standard Chrysler clutch-type Sure Grip, and a Petty Enterprises axle cooler.

ChassisFrame: The original Petty Enterprises frame is 99 percent original and has been restored to its 1971 racing appearance.

Wheels: Pat scored a set of N.O.S. Petty Enterprises 15x9.5 double center wheels with the early style five-hole spiders. Later wheels had more holes.

Tires: Inner tubes hold air in a set of vintage 8x8.25 Goodyear speedway gumballs. They're tubeless but old, ya know?

StyleBody: A '71 Satellite body was scavenged and its body panels fitted to the chassis. The '71 model year marked the transition from production-based unibody Stock Cars to handbuilt chassis with add-on skins.

Paint: Steve and Brian at World Class Paint and Body of Simi Valley dipped the car in Plymouth Basin Street Blue (a.k.a. Petty Blue). Richard Petty granted permission for Motor Sports Design in Jamestown, North Carolina, to re-create the graphics in vinyl. They're the same source Petty Enterprises uses today. We'd have gone with traditional brush painting, but that's just us.

Interior: It's your basic NASCAR Grand National rollcage and is basically unaltered from new. Still present are the original Petty Enterprises-fabricated instrument panel and steering wheel. The spiffy plaid upholstered seat re-creates a promotional pattern used by Richard to endorse Berkline fabrics in 1971.